“No, darling,” said M—— M——, bursting with laughter, “it is quite the other way; you are very pretty.” With these words she took her on her knee and embraced her tenderly.
“Your corset is too tight; you can’t possibly have such a small waist as that.”
“You make a mistake, you can put your hand there and see for yourself.”
“I can’t believe it.”
M—— M—— then held her close to the grill and told me to see for myself. At the same moment she turned up her dress.
“You were right,” said I, “and I owe you an apology;” but in my heart I cursed the grating and the chemise.
“My opinion is,” said I to M—— M——, “that we have here a little boy.”
I did not wait for a reply, but satisfied myself by my sense of touch as to her sex, and I could see that the little one and her governess were both pleased that my mind was at rest on the subject.
I drew my hand away, and the little girl looked at M—— M——, and reassured by her smiling air asked if she might go away for a moment. I must have reduced her to a state in which a moment’s solitude was necessary, and I myself was in a very excited condition.
As soon as she was gone I said to M—— M——,